Household refrigerator



Oct. 6, 1964 H. P. HARLE ETAL HOUSEHOLD REFRIGERATOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 1WW0 HAROLD P. HARLE BY GEDWARD w. HARRsoN THE\P- ATTORNEY Filed July 22Oct. 6, 1964 H. P. HARLE ETAL 3,151,472

HOUSEHOLD REFRIGERATOR Filed July 22, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORSHAROLD P. MAR-LE BY6EDWARD W. HARRISON THE'AR ATTORNEY Oct. 6, 1964 P.HARLE ETAL 3,151,472

HOUSEHOLD REFRIGERATOR Filed July 22, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORSHAROLD P- HARkE 9 BY&EDWARD w. RARmsoN I THEIR ATTORNEY United StatesPatent 3,151,472 HOUSEHGLD REFRIGERATGR Harold P. Hassle, and Edward W.Harrison, Louisville,

Ky, assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New YorkFiied July 22, 1963, Ser. No. 296,527 4 Claims. (Q3. 62-39l) The presentinvention relates to household refrigerators and is more particularlyconcerned with a refrigerator cabinet comprising a base section having acounter top work surface, an upper section at eye level and anintermediate unrefrigerated section supporting the upper section on thebase section.

An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator cabinetof the aforementioned type of improved construction.

Another obiect of the invention is to provide a refrigerator cabinet ofthis type including three basic sections which can be separatelymanufactured and subse quently fastened together into the form of acomplete refrigerator.

Further objects and features of the present invention will becomeapparent as the following description proceeds and the features ofnovelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out withparticularity in the claims annexed to and forming part of thisspecification.

in accordance with the preferred form of the present invention, there isprovided a refrigerator cabinet compris ing a base or counter sectionincluding a freezer compartment and a machinery compartment and an upperor eye level section containing a fresh food storage compartment. Theupper section is supported on the base section by means of anunrefrigerated intermediate section which is set back from the forwardedges of both the base section and the upper section to provide acounter top or work area of substantial dimensions. In addition tosupporting the upper section on the base section, this intermediateseption includes duct and fan means for circulating air from a singleevaporator contained in the vbase section through the upper fresh foodcompartment.

For a better understanding of :the invention, reference may be had tothe accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view, partly in section, of arefrigerator cabinet of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken generally along line 2-2 ofFIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken generally along line 3-3 ofFIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken generally along line 44 of FIGURE 1;and

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken generally along line 5-5 of FIGURE 4.

With reference to the drawing, there is shown in FIG URE 1 arefrigerator cabinet including a base section 1 having the general shapeof a kitchen base or counter type cabinet, an upper section 2 having thegeneral shape of a kitchen wall cabinet and an intermediateunrefrigerated section 3 which is set back from the forward edges orfaces of both the base and upper sections 1 and 2 to provide a flatcountertop or work area 4 of substantial area on the front top surfaceof the base section 1.

The lower or base section 1 comprises an outer shell 6 and a liner 7spaced from the shell 6 with the space between the shell and liner beingfilled with suitable heat aist'nz Patented 0st. 6, 1964 taining arefrigerant condensing unit including a compressor 11 and a condenser12. The compressor 11 and condenser 12 form part of a refrigeratingsystem including a single evaporator 14 for providing refrigeration forboth storage compartments.

The evaporator structure 14 is disposed along the rear wall 15 of thefreezer compartment 8 and includes a housing 16 containing a serpentineevaporator 19 (FIG- URE 5) including front and rear sections divided bya partition 20. A fan 17 circulates air from the freezer compartment 8over the front evaporator section in the housing 14, the cooled airflowing out of the housing 16 through a plurality of louvers l8 and 19provided on the v front wall of the housing. For a more detaileddescripinsulation. The liner 7 defines a freezer storage comcompartment8. A machinery compartment 14 is provided in the lower portion of thebase section 1 for contion of the evaporator structure, reference may behad to Patent 3,050,955Solley et al. issued August 28, 1962 and assignedto the same assignee as the present invention. a

The upper section 2 comprises insulated walls including a bottom wall 21and a rear Wall 22 defining a fresh food storage compartment 23 for thestorage of fresh or unfrozen foods. The access opening at the front ofthe storage compartment 23 is closed by a pair of doors 24 supported bypivo-t hinges 25 on the upper and lower ends of the side walls 27.

The base section 1 and the upper section 2 of the refrigerator arespecifically designed to be separately manufactured or preassembled andthereafter assembled to form a unitary structure in which the uppersection 2 is supported on and in spaced relationship with the lowersection 1 by means of an intermediate unrefrigerated section 3.

To this end, the intermediate section 3 comprises opposed L-shapedvertical side members 30 for supporting the side edges of the uppersection 2 on the side edges of the base section 1. More specifically, asshown in FIG- URE 4 of the drawing these side members 3 comprise aninner sheet metal member 31 having upper and lower flanges secured asfor example by means of metal screws 32 to the base and upper sections 1and 2 and an outer decorative sheet metal compartment 33. The forwardand top edge portions of the members 30 which are not in directengagement with the upper section of the cabinet are covered by means oftrim strips 34. More specifically, while the lower edges of the member30 extend the full depth of the base section 1, the upper edgesterminate short of the front of the upper cabinet section 2 as shown inFIGURE 2 of the drawing so that the trim strips 34 are employed to coverthe exposed front and top edges of these members.

The vertical side members 30 are braced in vertical alignment by meansof a transverse member 37 suitably secured to the side members 30rearwardly from the front edges of the lower and upper sections 1 and 2and also in spaced relation with the rear edge of the base section 1. Infront of the transverse member 37, there is provided adecorative wallmember 35 of a translucent material such'as glass or a suitable plasticmaterial and this member is spaced a sufiicient distance from thetransverse member 37 to provide room for a fluorescent light 36. Theillumination provided by the light 36 through the decorative member 35illuminates the countertoparea 4 ahead'of the member 35. The countertoparea 4 ahead of member 35 may be covered by any suitable work surface 38such as a plastic sheet material or the like.

The space 46) rearwardly from the transverse member 37 contains portionsof the cooling system and other components'of the refrigerator whichare; desirably disposed outside of either of the refrigeratedcompartments 8 and 23. In. this connection, the upper compartment 23 iscooled by means of air circulated in heat exchange relationship with therear portion of the evaporator pros vided in the freezer compartment 8and to this end there are provided a plurality of passages and ducts incertain of the insulated walls of the lower and upper compartments 1 and2 and between these compartments. More specifically, there are providedin the rear wall 22 of the upper compartment an air return passage 44having an inlet 45 communicating with the lower portion of the freshfood storage compartment 23 and an outlet opening through the insulatedbottom wall 46 of the upper section 1. A removable duct structure 47,including an inlet passage 48 and an outlet passage 49 is providedbetween the upper section 2 and the lower section 1 and the outletpassage 49 communicates with an air passage 50 in the base section whichis connected to the evaporator housing 16.

The duct 47 includes an enlarged portion 56 containing a fan 51 and afan motor 52 arranged within the duct structure 47 and completelysupported thereby in such a manner that the fan withdraws air from thecompartment 23 through the duct 44 and the passage 48 and discharges theair downwardly through the passage 50 in the lower section of thecabinet into the evaporator structure 14. This air flows into theevaporator housing rearwardly from the partition 26 and after passingover the rear section of the evaporator is returned to the fresh foodcompartment through an air passage 56 provided in the insulated rearwall of the lower section 1 and a second duct structure 57 containing anair passage 58 and an air passage 59 provided in the rear wall of theupper section 2 and having an outlet 60 opening into the compartment 23adjacent the top thereof.

Thus during normal operation orrefrigerating opera tion of therefrigerator, air from the fresh food compartment 23 is circulatedthrough the evaporator structure 14 and back to that compartment bymeans of the fan 51 while air from the freezer compartment 8 iscirculated through the evaporator structure and back to that compartmentby means of the fan 17.

The ducts 47 and 57 provided in the intermediate section of the cabinetare separable from that cabinet so that they can be preassembled andplaced in the desired positions during assembly of the base and uppersections 1 and 2,

The illustrated embodiment of the invention also includes a solenoidoperated water supply valve 62 for automatically supplying water to oneor more freezing trays 63 provided on a shelf portion 64 forming part ofthe drawer structure provided in the freezer compartment 8. The supplyline 65 from the valve 62 extends downwardly through the insulated wall46 into the compartment 8 to a point immediately above the trays 63 whenthey are in their recessed position, that is, when the drawer is closed.For further details concerning the structure and the operation of an iceservice of this type reference is made to Harle Patent 3,089,312 issuedMay 14, 1963 and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

Preferably, the height of the base section 1 is such that the countertop'or work area 4 is at a height somewhat less than the height of theusual kitchen base cabinet while the shoulder or ledge 67 forming partof the vertical side members 30 forwardly from the face of the uppercabinet section 2 are at approximately the same height as the averagekitchen base cabinet. By this structure, the refrigerator cabinet of thepresent invention blends into the usual kitchen cabinet arrangementregardless of the particular height of the other storage cabinetsprovided in the kitchen. In other words, no attempt is made to matchexactly the height of the other storage base cabinets but rather thematching problem is avoided by havingthe work surface area 4 of therefrigerator cabinet somewhat below the usual counter height and theshoulders 67 at about the same height. The particular advantage of thisdesign is that it permits the upper section 2 or more specifically thecompart ment 23 contained therein to be positioned at eye level heightwhile at the same time providing .sufficient distance between the lowerbase section 1 and the upper section 2 to provide full use of thecountertop area 4. In other words, the vertical side members 30 can beof sufficient height so that milk bottles or the like normally stored ina refrigerator can be placed on the counter area 4 without interferingwith the opening or closing movement of the door 24.

While three has been shown and described a particular embodiment of thepresent invention it will be understood that the invention is notlimited thereto but is intended by the appended claims to cover allmodifications within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

1. A refrigerator cabinet comprising:

(a) a base section including insulated rear, side, bottom and top wallsdefining a freezer compartment, an evaporator structure disposed in saidfreezer compartment adjacent said rear wall, supply and return airpassages in the insulated rear wall of said base section extending fromsaid evaporator structure to the top surface of said base section,

(b) an upper section including rear and bottom insulated walls defininga fresh food compartment, an air supply passage in the rear wall of saidupper section having an inlet in the bottom wall of said section and anoutlet opening into said fresh food compartment, an air return passagehaving its inlet opening into the lower portion of said fresh foodcompartment and an outlet opening in the bottom wall of said uppersection,

(0) an intermediate unrefrigerated section including vertical sidemembers supporting the lower side edges of said upper section on theupper side edges of said lower section, a transverse member extending between said side members intermediate the front and rear edges of saidbase section and defining with said side members a countertop area onthe top of said base section forwardly from said transverse member and asecond area rearwardly from said transverse member,

(d) a first insulated duct in said second area connecting said airsupply passages in said base and upper sections, a second insulated ductconnecting said return air passages in said base and upper sections, anda fan disposed in and supported on one of said ducts for circulating airfrom said fresh food cornpartment through said evaporator structure.

2. A refrigerator cabinet comprising:

(a) a base section including insulated rear, side, bottom and top wallsdefining a freezer compartment in the upper portion thereof, acondensing unit com partment in the lower portion of said base section,an evaporator structure disposed in said freezer compartment adjacentsaid rear wall, supply and return air passages in the insulated rearwall of said base section extending from said evaporator structure tothe top surface of said base section, a freezing tray in the upperportion of said freezer compartment,

([2) an upper section including rear and bottom insulated walls defininga fresh food compartment, an air supply passage in the rear insulatedwall of said upper section having an inlet opening in the bottom wall ofsaid section and an outlet opening into the upper portion of said freshfood compartment, an air return passage having its inlet opening intothe lower portion of said fresh food compartment and an outlet openingin the bottom wall of said upper section,

(c) an intermediate unrefrigerated section including L- shaped verticalside members supporting the lower side edge of said upper section on theupper side edges of said lower section, a transverse member extendingbetween said side members and defining with said side members, acountertop area on the top surface of said base section forwardly fromsaid transverse member and a second area rearwardly from said transversemember,

(d) a first insulated duct between said base and upper sectionsconnecting said supply passages in said base and upper sections, asecond insulated duct connecting said return air passages in said baseand upper sections, a fan disposed in and supported on one of said ductsfor circulating air from said fresh food compartment through saidevaporator structure,

(2) water supply means including a valve supported on one of said ductsand a supply line extending through the top wall of said base section,

(1) said ducts and water supply means being disposed in said secondarea.

3. A refrigerator cabinet comprising:

(a) a base section adapted to rest on the floor including insulatedrear, side, bottom and top walls defining a freezer compartment in theupper portion thereof, a condensing unit compartment in the lowerportion of said base section, an evaporator structure disposed in saidfreezer compartment adjacent said rear wall, supply and return airpassages in the insulated rear wall of said base section extending fromsaid evaporator structure to the top surface of said base section,

(b) an upper section including rear and bottom insulated walls defininga fresh food compartment, an air supply passage in the rear insulatedwall of said upper section having an inlet opening in the bottom Wall ofsaid section and an outlet opening into the upper portion of said freshfood compartment, an air return passage having its inlet opening intothe lower portion of said fresh food compartment and an outlet openingin the bottom wall of said upper section,

(0) an intermediate unrefrigerated section including vertical sidemembers supporting the lower side edge of said upper section on theupper side edges of said lower section, a transverse member extendingbetween said side members rearwardly from the front edge of said basesection and defining with said side members a countertop area on the topsurface of said base section and a second area behind said transversemember,

(d) ducts in said second area including a first insulated duct betweensaid base and upper sections connecting said supply passages in saidbase and upper sections, and a second insulated duct connecting said airreturn passages in said base and upper sections, a fan disposed in andsupported on one of said ducts for circulating air from said fresh foodcompartment through said evaporator structure,

(e) a translucent wall member extending between said side members infront of and spaced from said transverse member, and a source of lightin the area between said translucent wall member and said trans versemember for illuminating said countertop area.

4. A refrigerator cabinet comprising:

(a) a base section including insulated rear, side, bottom and top wallsdefining a freezer compartment in the upper portion thereof, acondensing unit compartment in the lower portion of said base section,an evaporator structure disposed in said freezer compartment adjacentsaid rear wall, supply and return air passages in the insulated rearwall of said base section extending from said evaporator structure tothe top surface of said base section, a freezing tray in the upperportion of said freezer compartment,

(b) an upper section including rear and bottom insulated walls defininga fresh food compartment, an air supply passage in the rear wall of saidupper section having an inlet in the bottom wall of said section and anoutlet opening into the upper portion of said fresh food compartment, anair return passage having its inlet opening into the lower portion ofsaid fresh food compartment and an outlet opening in the bottom wall ofsaid upper section,

(0) an intermediate unrefrigerated section including L-shaped verticalside members supporting the lower side edges of said upper section onthe upper side edges of said lower section, a transverse member extending between said side members intermediate the front and rear edgesof said base section and defining with said side members a countertoparea on the top of said base section forwardly from said transversemember and a second area rearwardly from said transverse member,

(d) a first insulated duct in said second area between said base andupper sections connecting said supply passages in said base and uppersections, a second insulated duct in said second area connecting saidair return passages in said base and upper sections, a fan disposed inand supported on one of said ducts for circulating air from said freshfood compartment through said evaporator structure,

(e) water supply means for supplying water to said tray including a flowcontrol valve supported on one of said ducts and a supply line extendingthrough the top wall of said base section,

(f) a translucent wall member extending between said side members infront of and spaced from said transverse member, and a source of lightin the area between said translucent wall member and said transversemember for illuminating said countertop area.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,328,130 Earle Aug. 31, 1943 2,708,350 Earle May 17, 1955 2,961,851Ehrenfreund Nov. 29, 1961 3,050,955 Solley Aug. 28, 1962

1. A REFRIGERATOR CABINET COMPRISING: (A) A BASE SECTION INCLUDINGINSULATED REAR, SIDE, BOTTOM AND TOP WALLS DEFINING A FREEZERCOMPARTMENT, AN EVAPORATOR STRUCTURE DISPOSED IN SAID FREEZERCOMPARTMENT ADJACENT SAID REAR WALL, SUPPLY AND RETURN AIR PASSAGES INTHE INSULATED REAR WALL OF SAID BASE SECTION EXTENDING FROM SAIDEVAPORATOR STRUCTURE TO THE TOP SURFACE OF SAID BASE SECTION, (B) ANUPPER SECTION INCLUDING REAR AND BOTTOM INSULATED WALLS DEFINING A FRESHFOOD COMPARTMENT, AN AIR SUPPLY PASSAGE IN THE REAR WALL OF SAID UPPERSECTION HAVING AN INLET IN THE BOTTOM WALL OF SAID SECTION AND AN OUTLETOPENING INTO SAID FRESH FOOD COMPARTMENT AN AIR RETURN PASSAGE HAVINGITS INLET OPENING INTO THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID FRESH FOOD COMPARTMENTAND AN OUTLET OPENING IN THE BOTTOM WALL OF SAID UPPER SECTION, (C) ANINTERMEDIATE UNREFRIGERATED SECTION INCLUDING VERTICAL SIDE MEMBERSSUPPORTING THE LOWER SIDE EDGES OF SAID UPPER SECTION ON THE UPPER SIDEEDGES OF SAID LOWER SECTION, A TRANSVERSE MEMBER EXTENDING BETWEEN SAIDSIDE MEMBERS INTERMEDIATE THE FRONT AND REAR EDGES OF SAID BASE SECTIONAND DEFINING WITH SAID SIDE MEMBERS A COUNTERTOP AREA ON THE TOP OF SAIDBASE SECTION FORWARDLY FROM SAID TRANSVERSE MEMBER AND A SECTIONFORWARDLY FROM SAID TRANSVERSE MEMBER AND A SECOND AREA REARWARDLY FROMSAID TRANSVERSE MEMBER, (D) A FIRST INSULATED DUCT IN SAID SECOND AREACONNECTING SAID AIR SUPPLY PASSAGES IN SAID BASE AND UPPER SECTIONS, ASECOND INSULATED DUCT CONNECTING SAID RETURN AIR PASSAGES IN SAID BASEAND UPPER SECTIONS, AND A FAN DISPOSED IN AND SUPPORTED ON ONE OF SAIDDUCTS FOR CIRCULATING AIR FROM SAID FRESH FOOD COMPARTMENT THROUGH SAIDEVAPORATOR STRUCTURE.